Last year ushered in major design changes for many businesses! Some businesses completely overhauled their outdated designs all at once after many years of resistance, while others changed their strategic approach to design and implemented smaller incremental changes throughout the year. But no matter where your company fell on this spectrum, chances are that it made some noticeable design changes as well.
In 2015 overall design strategy took a decided swing back towards focusing on usability over more artsy aesthetic elements. These were the most important design tips that we picked up on:
In 2015 overall design strategy took a decided swing back towards focusing on usability over more artsy aesthetic elements. These were the most important design tips that we picked up on:
- With smartphone use at an all-time high responsive web design officially became the only acceptable web standard for many users
- Simplicity ruled with fewer numbers of fonts, colors and patterns being used
- Local businesses that previously only had Facebook pages finally got their own standalone websites to better control their brand image
- Readability was paramount with the use of easy to discern fonts surpassing novelty fonts and scripts
- Bold text, when used sparingly, became the best way to attract attention to important messaging
- Lowercase letters were trendier than ever before (perhaps owing their popularity to the shift toward simplicity)
- The same design attention was finally paid to corporate blogs as their main website counterparts
- Icons became superstars allowing users to like, re-post, bookmark, share, and save products/information by clicking minimalistic buttons devoid of all text and instead comprised of tiny thumbs, birds, flags, and envelopes
- Contact information started to become more universally clickable, allowing mobile users to easily call or email a business with one tap
- On-site search options were greatly improved across many websites – offering searchers more criteria to filter and display their results
- Ecommerce checkout pages were paired down to provide a more straightforward customer experience
- More companies added “resources” sections to their sites to integrate elements like blog posts, instructional videos, white papers, press releases, and customer reviews
- Homepage slideshows became more useful – showcasing current promotions and helpful product information
- Mobile paid search advertising became more widely adopted, letting advertisers customize their message to mobile users specifically to offer deals that were easier to take advantage of and mirror these offers within the site’s design elements
- Color theory reached new heights with companies completely rebranding their sites to incorporate slight variations of existing brand colors
- On-site advertising finally started to dwindle, creating a less frustrating user experience across all devices
- Google’s move to give preference to secured sites presented an opportunity to focus design and content elements on user security policies and protections
- Companies of all sizes launched apps to complement their web experience
Have any more observations that you’d like to add? Feel free to comment below!
Kate Pierce is the owner of LionShark Digital Marketing LLC, a West Michigan internet marketing company. Her areas of expertise include Paid Search, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media, Web Consulting for small businesses, Copywriting and Local Online Marketing. She lives in the Grand Rapids area with her husband and enjoys cooking, watching sports and spending time outdoors. Like a true digital marketing expert (i.e. geek), she loves talking about marketing theory and SEM trends… so don’t say you weren’t warned!
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